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C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 002369
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO ASHLEY ROACH IN L/OES) AND BRIAN VAN
PAY IN OES/OA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2017
TAGS: SENVECONEFTAETRDPRELDR
SUBJECT: DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSES ARCHIPELAGIC
STATE DECLARATION AND OTHER TOPICS
Classified By: Roland W. Bullen, Reasons 1.4 b and d.
¶1. (C) Summary: On October 18, the CDA and UK Ambassador
delivered a joint demarche to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(MFA) to protest the Dominican Republic's unilateral
declaration as an archipelagic State claiming expansive new
territorial sea rights. The U.S. and UK contested the
definition of the Dominican Republic as an archipelagic state
as well as its legislative claims related to navigational
rights, the expansion of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ),
and assertions concerning internal waters and byways. The
MFA responded that they were expecting a protest and would
suggest to the president that an independent expert on
international maritime law be consulted to review the
legislation. However, the MFA stopped short of agreeing to
rescind the legislation and instead claimed its was the crazy
brainchild of one particular member of congress. In addition
to the demarche, a range of other issues were discussed,
including Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations
between the EU and CARICOM countries, the formation of
Haitian-Dominican bilateral commissions, the MFA's view of
the recent UN Security Council seat vote, and the recent
visit of the DR Foreign Minister to Iran. End Summary.
Archipelagic State Declaration Demarche Delivered
--------------------------------------------- ----
¶2. (U) The Deputy Foreign Minister and Chief of Staff of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Trullols, met with
Charge d'Affairs Bullen and British Ambassador Ian
Worthington on October 18 to receive a joint demarche
protesting the passage of legislation (Law No. 66-07, signed
May 22, 2007) declaring the Dominican Republic an
archipelagic State. This legislation asserts expansive new
territorial sea rights that impinge on U.S. and UK
territorial rights as concern Puerto Rico and the Turks and
Caicos Islands, respectively. The demarche, which was
drafted collaboratively by OES and the UK Hydrographic
Office, contested the definition of the Dominican Republic as
an archipelagic State based on the definition in Part IV of
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and expressed concern
about Law No. 66-07's claim of an expanded exclusive economic
zone, limitations on the right of innocent passage and claims
concerning internal waters and byways. The U.S. and UK
governments reserved their rights and those of their
territories and citizens and requested additional information
to support the DR's claims.
¶3. (C) Trullols, who was in a particularly jovial mood,
committed to producing a formal response shortly and said he
would call the foreign minister immediately to make him aware
of our concerns, promising to raise the issue with President
Fernandez. Trullols committed to recommending that the
President seek the legal advice of an outside maritime law
expert to review the legislation, but he did not commit to
rescinding the legislation, saying, "It's now the law."
However, Trullols admitted, "I knew this would happen,"
referring to the U.S. and UK protest, and said, "We're as
worried as you are about this thing," implying the MFA was
anticipating international protest of the legislation's
claims. Trullols continued that he and Foreign Minister
Carlos Troncoso had spoken with President Fernandez to
protest the passage of this legislation prior to its signing,
reiterating their suggestion for independent advice.
Trullols said this was the initiative of "that nut",
Pellegrin Castillo, who is the chairman of the Energy and
Mines Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and said the
legal interpretation had been conducted by his ally, Carlos
Michellen. According to a DAO source, maritime experts in
the private sector, who were consulted about the legislation
prior to its passage, also raised concerns about its legality
but were branded as unpatriotic and ignored by Castillo and
his allies in congress. This source is consistent with
Trullols own description of the MFA's prior intervention.
Additional Agenda Items:
A) CARICOM EPA Negotiations with the EU
¶4. (SBU) At the close of discussions about the archipelagic
State declaration, Worthington raised the carrot that if the
issue were to be resolved it would remove the last remaining
barrier to signing an Investment Protection Agreement (IPA)
between the UK and the Dominican Republic, which was
apparently rejected by the Dominican Congress as a result of
the reference to UK territories in the IPA that would have
contradicted the archipelagic State claims. This carrot
offer led to a broader discussion about the progress of
negotiations between the CARICOM countries and the EU over an
EPA to replace unilateral tariff and quota preference regimes
in place through December this year. Trullols opined that
there is very little likelihood of reaching agreement before
the preferences expire as many countries remain stuck on
maintaining import duties as a means of fiscal support,
noting the lack of tax structure reform in most CARICOM
countries to elimate reliance on import duties for annaul
revenue requirements. Trullols also stated that the DR is
likely to sign a side protocol with the EU to avoid
contradictions and/or violations of its commitments under
CAFTA-DR.
B) Dominican Republic - Haiti Bilateral Commissions
¶5. (SBU) The EPA negotiations discussion opened the door to a
broader discussion about regional issues when Trullols
offered up an assessment of bilateral relations with Haiti,
which he praised as excellent as a result of the great
relationship between presidents Fernandez and Preval.
Trullols said that the bilateral commissions between the
Dominican Republic and Haiti are getting going with the
commissions on environment, education, security and health
all ready for action. Trullols predicted that President
Preval would issue a presidential decree naming the Haitian
members of the committees in January of next year as a result
of his current complete focus on the constitutional reform
process underway. Trullols noted that the immigration
commission would not be initiated, but rather it would be
negotiated directly at the presidential or ministerial level
at a later date due to the sensitivity of the issue.
¶6. (C) The discussion about Haiti led to a broader discussion
about the work of NGOs on the DR-Haitian border, but in an
unsolicited tangent Trullols alleged that the DR government
has "solid information" that an "international campaign"
comprised of controversial priests and international NGOs is
being waged against the Dominican Republic financed by
outside "commercial interests" to smear the country's image
with false allegations of mistreatment of Haitian immigrants
and Dominicans of Haitian descent. Trullols continued that
if there really were such mistreatment these Haitians would
return to their country, but argued that they will not
because conditions are better in the Dominican Republic than
in Haiti. Worthington pushed back suggesting that not all
NGOs were working against the Dominican government, and that
a number of civil society groups were trying to work
progressively with the country to help alleviate the
concerns. Worthington suggested to Trullols that a more
proactive and responsive approach might prove more effective
than a reactionary one.
C) UNSC Vote
¶7. (C) Trullols said that he was extremely disappointed that
the DR had received only 4 of the 14 CARICOM votes for the UN
Security Council seat earlier this week and described it as a
serious blow to the DR. He didn't rule out that they would
pursue the General Assembly presidency, but said the DR
wouldn't initiate anything and would only pursue it if a
number of countries independently urged them to step forward.
Trullols also complained of what he called Costa Rica's
"underhanded" approach to the election, alleging Costa Rica
had received tens of millions of dollars in economic
assistance from China in exchange for its recognition.
Trullols said the Chinese and the French governments had gone
to member states and done some "serious arm-twisting" to
ensure a vote against the DR, noting the presence of as many
as five deputy foreign ministers from China directly engaged
in pressuring countries on their votes. Trullols concluded
the subject by stating that the DR wasn't feeling in the
giving mood on the EPA trade negotiations with CARICOM
following the UNSC seat vote.
D) Chavez Could Visit Dominican Republic in November
¶8. (C) An advisor to the port authority and aviation
industry, and a former public affairs FSN, told CDA and
EconOff at an event on October 17 that Venezuelan president,
Hugo Chavez, is planning to visit the Dominican Republic next
month for a meeting of leftist governments in Santo Domingo.
CDA asked Trullols to confirm this information, but Trullols
replied that he hadn't heard anything about a Chavez visit.
He did confirm that Brazilian President Lula da Silva will
attend. However, he did not rule out the possibility that
Chavez would decide to visit at the last minute and said the
Dominican Republic must treat Chavez well and do a "soft
dance" with him because of the DR's participation in the
PetroCaribe agreement.
E) MFA Visit to Tehran
¶9. (C) Trullols took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere of
the discussion to bring up the recent visit by Foreign
Minister Troncoso to Tehran and lamented the extensive
repression on display during his trip. Trullols specifically
mentioned his drive past the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, which he
said is now being used jointly by the Revolutionary Guard and
the office responsible for enforcing dress codes and women's
social codes. No additional information was discussed.
¶10. (C) Comment: Trullols' attitude was that this
legislation was merely another piece of paper and should be
nothing to worry about. We are somewhat concerned that
Trullols downplayed the importance of the legislation, but
encouraged that the MFA will be taking action to address our
concerns. It is conceiveable to imagine the U.S. Coast Guard
boarding a Dominican flag fishing boat in what is now
considered part of the expanded Dominican EEZ, which is also
considered territorial waters of the U.S., resulting in an
international incident to force a showdown over this
legislation. Trullols was candid in his assessment of the
legislative process, noting that Castillo -- whose FNP party
is part of President Fernandez's governing coalition -- must
have exerted some form of unknown pressure on President
Fernandez and strong-armed his fellow legislative members to
get them to approve this legislation in the face of advice to
the contrary. Given Castillo's position on the Energy and
Mines Committee, and previous public statements about the
need to explore independent sources of energy, specifically
untapped but unspecified oil resources, it appears this
legislation is aimed at securing economic rights to off-shore
energy reserves that may currently fall outside the Dominican
Republic's territorial waters. However, no concrete
information is available related to the specific claims that
lie behind this legislation's passage.
¶11. Regarding Trullols comments on the Haitian minority here,
we concur with Ambassador Worthington's reply: The Dominicans
would be better served by spending less time demonizing their
critics and more time engaging with NGOs to address the
problem. End Comment
BULLEN